NBC Comedy Watch

Paul Rudd on "Parks & Rec"

I'm back for week 2 of NBC Comedy Watch & this was an outstanding week.


Community-"Basic Lupine Urology"- Sure it wasn't as deep emotionally as the last few weeks but from a pure laughs standpoint that's the best episode since the Glee parody back in December. It usually is the parody/homage episodes that get the biggest laughs & as soon as I heard they were making a Law & Order episode I expected it to be amazing, & last night delivered from the opening scene when the study group's yam was found "murdered." 


Troy & Abed trying to each do the crime scene zinger was hilarious, as was their entire time as partners (& Shirley was great as their captain as well-a reversal from season one's "The Science of Allusion" when Shirley & Annie were partners attempting to solve a crime & Abed was their "African-American police chief"), & Annie & Jeff were unsurprisingly affective lawyers (another call back to season one when they proved to be a formidable debate team, & a little bit more). Having the eternally decent Todd be the primary suspect was inspired, though not as much as Michael Ironside's appearance (& did anyone else wonder if he was involved in killing Starburns to silence him as a witness?) as Todd's military lawyer, uncle, or anything involving the brilliant Michael K. Williams who was finally used to full potential here getting to deliver his, "A man's got to have a code," line that surely made all fans of The Wire shudder like the Dean around a man in uniform. It also set up another dark & interesting turn to the season with the death of Star Burns or, as he always made a point to tell everyone, Alex.*

NBC Comedy Recap

Annie & Abed in the Dreamatorium. 

Last night marked the return of Parks & Rec, meaning once again NBC was airing the 2 best comedies on TV in one night! Because of this wonderful occurrence I felt the need to give my brief, except in the case of Community, thoughts on the last night's episodes.

1. Community-"Virtual Systems Analysis"-By now it's cliche to say that an episode of Community is unlike anything else on TV, after all they did an episode as Ken Burns documentary only 2 weeks ago, but damn... That was definitely the weirdest thing they've ever done (Not to mention the weirdest, & funniest thing, the Dean has ever worn). I mean that neither as praise or criticism. Ok, maybe a little praise because it's ballsy to go that nuts even after all the other stuff they've pulled. Though being off kilter alone doesn't make a show good (If that were the case Glee would be sensational), what really made the episode work was that beneath all of the wackiness of Abed & Annie playing other members of the study group inside the dreamatorium there was real emotional resonance. 

Spring Movie Preview

My #1 movie to see this April/May

It's been nearly 9 months since I've posted a movie preview, which may explain why so few people saw the 2 best movies of last year ("Warrior" & "50/50"), but before I go on maternity leave (Terrible joke, I know) I thought I'd give you the 5 must see movies of the next two months* & the 5 you should do your best to avoid.

*Technically May marks the beginning of the summer movie season in Hollywood but seeing as we (I'm assuming all my readers live in Arizona, if you don't I apologize for lumping you in with our lovely state) live in the real America, where in the span of a week "The Daily Show" & super awesome sitcom "Happy Endings" both take shots at your state for being racist, & not the left-wing elitist hell hole that is Hollywood I'm calling May what it is-a part of Spring.*

*To see a preview of the films click on their respective titles, & movies are listed in order of release date.

Five to See:


1. The Cabin in the Woods (April 13, otherwise known as Friday the 13th)

What it's about: Five twenty-something friends go on a vacation to a remote cabin in... you'll never guess it... the woods! On the plus side I don't think they all accidentally kill themselves "Tucker and Dale" style. On a less promising note even with Thor at their side they'll probably all get murdered. By what/whom & why though seem to be the interesting questions.

The Super Way Late 10 Best Shows of 2011

Walt, Jesse, & Gus cooked up a fantastic season of Breaking Bad.

Now that we're entering the fourth month of 2012 I had two options with this:

1. Don't write it. It's not timely & no one cares what I think anyway. Or... 

2. Write it anyway! 

Obviously I opted for #2 because I spent too much time watching TV & thinking about this list last year not to write it & it serves as a good advisory for shows to Netflix. 

Before we get to the list here's a brief summary of shows that didn't make the cut.

Shows I didn't watch that never stood a chance anyway:

1. Anything created by Chuck Lorre (THM, BBT, & "Mike and Molly")-if you like his shows good for you but let's not confuse mediocrity with the best television has to offer.